Breakup Spawns Shooting Ex-girlfriend Held In Woman`s Killing

September 27, 1988|By RENEE KRAUSE, Staff Writer

A love triangle ended with the killing of one woman, the shooting of her boyfriend and charges of murder and attempted murder against the injured man`s former girlfriend, a Broward Sheriff`s Office spokesman said.

Viola Sheely Dixon, 48, of the 1200 block of Northwest 31st Avenue, near Fort Lauderdale, was shot to death outside her apartment building on Sunday, spokesman George Crolius said.

Dixon`s live-in boyfriend, Sammie Lee Burke, 65, was shot in the back, Crolius said. He was treated and released from Plantation General Hospital on Sunday, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Carrie Bell McCoy, 53, of the 3300 block of Northwest 14th Place, near Fort Lauderdale, was in the Broward County Jail, being held without bail on charges of shooting both victims, Crolius said.

McCoy, a teacher`s aide at the Seagull School, was distraught that Burke moved out on Saturday from the home they had shared for 10 years and moved into Dixon`s apartment, homicide Sgt. Richard Scheff said.

McCoy went to Dixon`s apartment complex on Sunday to confront Burke, Scheff said. McCoy was holding a pipe when she got out of her car.

``Sammie had a gun and tried to stop McCoy from assaulting Dixon,`` Scheff said.

Scheff said that McCoy hit Dixon with the pipe and, during a struggle with Burke, Burke dropped the gun. McCoy picked up the gun, shooting Dixon once in the face. Burke tried to get the gun away from McCoy. She then shot him in the back, officials said.

Fort Lauderdale police officers who were driving by saw the struggle and stopped to help, Crolius said. They took the weapon away from McCoy and then called the Sheriff`s Office because the shootings took place in unincorporated Broward County.